Publications

11 Aug 2021
Blog Post

The Equity Network: How HBS Helped Me Launch a Tech-Enabled Social Enterprise

we also took advantage of Harvard’s entrepreneurial resources. We conducted dozens of customer interviews in Startup Bootcamp, leveraged the Rock Center and Innovation Lab’s expert office hours, and became a semifinalist in the HBS New... View Details

September 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Frank Addante, Serial Entrepreneur

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Antony Uy

Frank Addante is a 28-year-old serial entrepreneur who is in the process of building his fifth venture. Of his first four ventures, two were sold, one went public, and in the last he decided to close the venture and return unused capital to his investors. With the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams

28 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

to be processed more slowly, leading to longer stays in the bankruptcy “hospital.” Not only would professional fees go up (especially burdensome for smaller businesses), but process delays would force companies to wait longer to obtain new View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Fawn Weaver, as a Black woman and industry outsider in a capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive and male-dominated spirits industry, successfully overcame numerous obstacles to launch a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest in 2017, which became the... View Details

November 2008 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Savage Beast (A)

By: Noam Wasserman and LP Maurice

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Lawsuits and Litigation; Leadership; Groups and Teams

09 Jun 2024
Blog Post

The EC Formula: MBA Class of 2024 Looks Back

industries and functions. We asked members of the MBA Class of 2024 what EC course will help them succeed in their various sectors, why they pursued an MBA, what advice they would give to prospective MBA students in their fields, and more. View Details

Web

Frequently Asked Questions | HBS Online

courses are completed successfully, learners will earn a Certificate of Specialization. HBS Online is currently offering a Learning Track in Leadership and Management , Strategy , Entrepreneurship and Innovation , Business in Society , View Details

December 2004 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Stan Lapidus: Profile of a Medical Entrepreneur

By: Robert F. Higgins and Sophie LaMontagne

Describes the career path and insights of Stanley Lapidus, a successful serial entrepreneur in the medical and life sciences industry. Lapidus is the founder of Cytyc Corp. (NASDAQ: CYTC) and EXACT Sciences (NASDAQ: EXAS) and is currently the CEO of his third start-up,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Managerial Roles; Health Industry

22 Feb 2021
Book

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

you want an engineer, accountant, finance person, or programmer, you can find people who majored in those subjects, but few schools have sales programs or even a sales course. Also, research consistently shows that managers overestimate... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Web

Harvard Business School

of Boston who served in World War II, Herb Lyken became a professor of Finance and Accounting at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and taught for 15 years. He was also a founder and board member of the Unity Bank and Trust in... View Details

June 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Fox Islands Wind Project (A)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, James Thomas Corcoran, Max Gazor, Dylan Hogarty and Alexander H. Somers, Jr.

The market for electricity on the Fox Islands of North Haven and Vinalhaven, Maine is unique and costly for residents. Historically, electricity prices on the islands had been three times the national average because of the high cost of importing electricity via an... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Cost; Financing and Loans; Projects; Business and Community Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology Industry; Maine

Web

Industry Information - Alumni

theoretical and empirical on cross-border banking, as well as information on regulatory initiatives. Reuters: Finance Breaking news on the banking industry delivered by Reuters journalists. + – Business of Sports Business of Sports... View Details

04 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Diversity Boosts Profits in Venture Capital Firms

16 to 17 percent. Moreover, having women as partners increased the percentage of successful startups supported by those firms—that either went public or sold for more than their total capital investment—from about 28 percent to about 31... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services

May 1996 (Revised March 1998)
Case

SaleSoft, Inc. (A)

By: Das Narayandas

SaleSoft, a start-up firm, markets Comprehensive Sales Automation Solutions (CSAS) that automate a firm's sales, marketing, and service functions. Even though the product has received very favorable responses from prospects, product complexity and a long buying cycle... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decisions; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Sales; Opportunities; Information Technology; Technology Industry

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

strategy look like? The financing that we were able to assemble for this acquisition is interim financing, which gives us five years to figure that out. Part of the process we’re engaged in now with our partners is to say, What’s the... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

January 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Knight the King: The Founding of Nike

By: Noam Wasserman and Kyle Anderson

It had taken Phil Knight 16 long years to build Nike into the number one athletic-shoe company in the country. When Knight had first conceived of the company for an MBA class project, Adidas had had more than 80% market share, but Knight's marketing approach had... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Apparel and Accessories Industry

October 2002
Case

A Father's Love: Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Bradley Campbell

John Crowley, CEO of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a start-up biotechnology firm developing an orphan drug to treat a rare lysosomal storage disorder from which his children suffer, must choose between a partnership and a buyout to have sufficient funds and support to get... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Sales; Price; Product Development; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

December 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

iyzico: Fundraising in Emerging Markets (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2016 as Barbaros Ozbugutu, co-founder and CEO of the Istanbul-based payment technology start-up iyzico, contemplates the offers the company received for its Series C round. The case then describes iyzico’s origins and provides a detailed overview of... View Details

Keywords: Iyzico; Fundraising; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Management; Information Technology; Growth Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Decision Making; Turkey